Blue and Green Drops in the Ocean
by DenizenofTwilight
Summary: It's the night before the Keyblade War, and Sora is scared to find that Kairi is acting somewhat different. What's even more is the fact that her eyes are flashing green. Could it be an indication that the golden-eyed Xehanort might be possessing her? Suddenly it becomes clear to the duo that not only will they have to fight ghosts in their future, but of their past, as well.


**Blue and Green Drops in the Ocean**

Destiny Islands was as it always was, Sora knew. The tide was curling back to the sand, the way a lover might seek shelter in their significant other's embrace.

Twilight was setting down on the scene in a way that made the Keyblade wielder think of Roxas, and the time the Nobody spent in Twilight Town with his friends.

And as that last thought made Sora's face transform, so that it looked sullen, he realized what the last thing was that painted the night before him as ordinary: Kairi's melancholy smile.

At the moment, Sora's best friend was peering out over the dock—that they had once made their promises on—as if she were a sailor looking for ships that might come to dock at the harbor.

As she stood on her tiptoes—with a hand to her head, looking every which way for whatever had caught her attention—Sora was reminded of the Green Trinity Limit skill he'd once used with Donald and Goofy.

Whilst they had never sat atop each other's shoulders to look for a boat, they had done so to get a better look at things. The way that Kairi was behaving now… was much like how Sora had on my first journey.

And, of course, she also seemed to be emulating when Sora'd been in Port Royal, looking after the Starboard.

The fact that Kairi was seemingly acting so much like the spiky-haired brunette once had... well, to be quite frank, it scared Sora to death.

And as Kairi was already a target of Xehanort's, by being a Light as well as one of the Seven Princesses, he didn't exactly like her standing so close to the water. He wouldn't have put it past Xehanort to use magic, to have a fish swim up and gobble her whole or something.

"Kai, wouldya mind coming back with me to talk to my mom, please?" Sora ventured pleasantly enough, as he pulled onto the love of his life's sleeve, and thus pulled her away from the whipping waves and possible rocks that might have meant to take her life.

Thankfully, Kairi favored Sora's request well enough, as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and gave her companion one of her award winning smiles.

Even with that, though... Sora couldn't help but feel Kairi's mind was other wise occupied. She was being far too quite, for the girl he'd once nominated to be their year's "motor mouth", when we were in middle school... what seemed like a lifetime ago.

Pushing that thought away from his head at once, though, Sora decided then and there that if he couldn't think of anything positive at the moment (and really, the memory of the life they lost _was_ quite painful), he would just lace his hands behind his head and smile goofily.

Who knew? Maybe something silly, as smiling like he had when first meeting Donald and Goofy, would lift Kairi's spirits, and-

"Sora... You told me once that you couldn't be yourself without me. And I guess I want to know now… is that true?" Kairi asked, as she set to turning around and treading in front of Sora, with her hands tied behind her back.

Blinking at her stupidly for a moment—because he still wasn't quite sure how she could sometimes pose like she did, without falling over—it took Sora a moment to remember the said event that Kairi was talking about.

As he sat there in thought for the time being—his fist drawn up under his chin, in the vain hope that it would make him think clearer somehow—small, white dots began falling from the heavens to land all around the duo.

Kairi, as luck would have it, was quick to yelp in joy, as she jumped around trying to catch the snowflakes on her tongue. And as it happened, she even thought to hug Sora on the side for a brief moment.

And that was… well, it was all that Sora found he could ask for at the moment. It was good to see Kairi happy again, as Sora had often worried that she'd been wounded too deeply by Riku and his absence, so that she might not ever recover, and...

At the thought of recover, the chosen one couldn't help but think of Castle Oblivion. In fact, the white of the snowflakes falling against him, seemed to only heighten his memories of the place.

And as Sora thought on the castle that had changed so many destinies of the people connected to him, he remembered Kairi's previous question and found his answer. But for the time being, he thought it might be best if he kept the answer to himself…

"I don't think I've ever seen snowflakes on the Island before. I saw such weather in Radiant Garden, I'm sure, but never the Islands. The closest I ever got until now was when the stars returned to their rightful place in the night sky, the night you-"

As Kairi's breath hitched in her throat, as she undoubtedly made the same connection that Sora just had, the spiky-haired-brunette had to wonder if she thought, also, of the fact that maybe what she'd seen in Radiant Garden's sky all those years ago wasn't snow, but perhaps ash.

It was completely wrong to ever think of the awful experiments Xehanort had done, Sora knew, but as he couldn't remember any crazy trials ever going on without an explosion of sorts, he had to wonder….

Maybe… maybe that night when Xehanort had succeeded in creating the Heartless, and the world fell to Darkness, maybe he had caused ash to fall atop Radiant Garden, but had used magic to color it white so that Kairi's Grandmother wouldn't see, and spirit the young Princess away?

And if so… that meant what Kairi was remembering now wasn't something beautiful like snow in the slightest, but something terrible and destructive. This also meant, Sora thought irritated upon clenching his hands into fists, that Xehanort really had had plans for Kairi all along… at the expense of her grandmother most likely, too…

"Kairi," Sora muttered—as he quickly grabbed onto Kairi's hand, as she stood in the sand—and then began walking with the Princess faster towards their boats at the dock. (And chose to ignore the irony that after her boat had been destroyed the night the Islands fell, Kairi had opted to buy a white one to take its place).

As a sense of dread began building up in Sora's stomach—that he couldn't even begin to understand or make sense of at the moment—the boy found that he was so desperate to get Kairi home safe, that he didn't even care when his sandal got lodged into the sand, and was forced to stay there.

Rather, he continued on with Kairi partially barefoot, and- "Have you been okay lately? You've been acting a bit out of character, and I'm sure it's nothing, and that you'll even tell me if it is, but after what almost happened to me- Well, I suppose I want to make sure you haven't been Xehanort-ified."

And just when his own words fully registered in his head, Sora expected at once that Kairi would slap him: the words seemed to beg for it, really And never in all of Sora's life, had he wanted to smack himself more. He'd meant to change the subject to something light, and ignore the sense of foreboding that they both seemed to be feeling at the moment. But instead, he'd served to make the situation even worse, which was fantastic.

Thankfully, saving Sora some grief, and showing him just why he ought to return to school when everything was said and done (he needed to regain some social skills, himself), Kairi started the conversation much more lightly and friendly than he ever could have. "Sora, you lazy bum. You slept all through Communications class, didn't you? Well, I can help you carry on a conversation, if you want to escape your thoughts, I suppos-"

In fact, it even served to effortlessly allow Sora to sweep the girl up into his arms, without hesitation or the fear of awkwardness. He did think Kairi might protest that she was strong enough to keep up with him, though. "Whoa. Hey! Put me down this instant, Sora! I'm not-"

Whatever Kairi might have been about to protest (and Sora had the inkling that she'd be demanding him to stop thinking her weak) was instantly cut off, when Sora felt the vibrations of her lips against his own.

Now, though this couldn't be considered a kiss per se, Sora couldn't help thinking that it might have well been.

Ever since Kairi had gone to Yen Sid for training, she'd been training with magic. And as spells usually had to be spoken aloud for them to work (which at certain times was a nuisance or even an impossibility), Kairi had been trying to find a way to make sure she could always speak them when she needed to, even if she was Silenced. And the effect of that...

Well, Sora supposed the best way to explain it, would be to say that Kairi had "Sonar" now (which was why just her whispering near him, made it feel like her lips were brushing him), but he knew well that she'd slap him, if he did. Not that that wasn't the most beautiful pain imaginable in Sora's book, though.

"S-s-sorry about this, Kai! I'll put you down now, I swear! We're at the boats, and now I can get you back to see my Mom. She wants to see all of us off before we go to battle," Sora explained awkwardly, after their would-be-kiss, with hasty arm movements that he thought Naminé would probably be quick to alter, should she ever manipulate his memories again. Kairi had, after all, been the first person ever to tell him that his waving hands were a safety hazard.

Even more hazardous than that, though, would have been if Sora had ever filled his mother in about the fact they'd be fighting in a War. Though it would definitely be the biggest battle ever seen in the Realm of Light, since the time of fairytales, Sora knew that for the safety of himself and everyone else involved, his mom would never, _ever_ hear those details.

Not that she didn't already know, though, Sora surmised. Surely she must have sensed the weight on his shoulders, which was why he felt he owed it to her to explain some of what was going on with him.

But also… Sora was using his mom as an excuse to get Kairi to come with him, and leave the water and dock that she'd seemed to be obsessed with lately. He didn't… he didn't like the way her eyes would go somewhat vacant, as she looked out onto the expansive sea. Not at all. It reminded the Keyblade wielder too much of how Riku had been, before-

"Why are you always so eager to protect me?" Kairi asked suddenly, as she hopped into the boat seat across from Sora's designated spot, and clasped her hands together in a way that reminded the wielder much of the timid Naminé.

Thankfully, though, getting Kairi away from the Play Island seemed to be putting some spark back into her, for whatever reason, Sora found. In fact, she was now downright refusing to let Sora row by himself, and even threatened to beat him up with her oar and Keyblade, if he didn't stop being sexist.

Also, Sora noticed that she was spreading her legs wide in a completely un-ladylike manner: a trait that they Keyblade wielder knew Kairi had adopted at the Mysterious Tower, to persuade everyone not to treat her like a breakable doll.

More than even that though... there was now a certain glint in Kairi's eyes, and tilt to her smile, that seemed to be snark-incarnate, Sora thought. So smiling at that, the brunette relished the fact that Naminé would _never_ have mirrored a look like that… and so, that had to mean his girl was waking up, right?

Yes, the green that Sora was now oddly imagining in Kairi's eyes _wasn't_ from her being possessed by Xehanort, and them slowly starting to turn gold, but from the venom and poison her sugar and spice words, Sora guessed.

But if she'd always had this quality about her, why hadn't he ever noticed it before? Something… something was still wrong about Kairi, Sora thought desperately to himself. But unfortunately, he still had absolutely no idea what.

"'Why am I so protective of you?' Because… because I learned in Castle Oblivion that I'm not _me_ without you, Kairi. How angry I got back then... that wasn't me. That was the voice of a monster, that not even one being in love with your 'shadow', Naminé could starve off. "You taught me how to live my life early on: to always smile, no matter how bad things get... is a way I could only ever be around _you_."

In the end, Sora thought it must have been a good thing that Kairi had decided to pick up most of the slack of rowing, because as the truth of his words—demons he'd promised himself that he would never relate to Kairi—came pouring out of him in a torrent, it was all Sora could do to slump down in his seat, like a puppet with its strings cut off.

If he had… if he had been rowing at the time that this weakness hit him, Sora didn't doubt that he would have crashed like a sack of potatoes, and very easily could've upturned the boat in the process.

In fact, the way that an eddie was currently glistening in the watery depths (reminding Sora a little too much of the color he'd just gleaned in Kairi's eyes), the brunette was almost certain that he could've all too easily landed Kairi and himself into a Hurricane. Yeah... Some hero he was.

Thankfully, proving that her training had done her more good than Sora had even known in some ways, Kairi opted to ignore her best friend's would've-been-love-confession (if it hadn't just been word vomit), and chose to focus on the matter at hand.

And as she placed her oar down for just a moment, after having skillfully averted the crisis, Sora watched with a raised eyebrow, as Kairi accidentally smacked the said oar against her rowboat. And then, he watched transfixed, as the paint chipped off and dissolved in the water the way a pill might have dissolved into water.

Smiling abashedly towards Kairi, for her rare lack of poise (she'd even _had_ poise before she'd dropped the oar: her hands had looked much like Naminé's had, when she'd been weighing Sora's options for him in Castle Oblivion), Sora reveled in the fact that even when so many things had changed since the last time he and Kairi had gotten to really talk, that she was still the girl he had and would always love. She was still his Kairi.

"Hehehe. I musta just put a damper on your frantic thoughts, huh, Sora? If so, I'm more than glad the de-coloring of my boat amuses you. It's nice that I can help you for once."

Somehow, the Kairi that was reflected in the ocean below Sora and the Princess now was even more beautiful to Sora than the real one, as she closed her eyes and laughed in her signature style.

Perhaps it was because Sora felt so much more at ease expecting things of his reflection, than else wise? After all, as the chosen wielder looked at the Sora and Kairi looking back at them, from the blue, crystalline surface that rebounded their image, Sora could easily imagine "water Sora" reaching his hand out and grasping for Kairi's, the way he'd always wanted to.

Real Sora doing such a thing, though… well it just didn't seem to be in the cards right now, the brunette pondered. Because even though he knew that the sky and sea always met in the end, he also knew that their separation was always hardest for the sea, as tears had first gotten their form and emotions from it.

If only he truly could've been water like how Kairi was, maybe then he could've stayed with her like this forever. There must have been a reason paopus so often fell off the Islands, and into the water, after all.

"Y'know… I just realized that it really woulda been easier to just have opened a Corridor of Light, and returned home that way. Say you'll forgive me for that oversight, Kairi. Please?!"

Sora realized and implored, ironically, as Kairi summoned her Keyblade to hand, and held it the way that a violinist would hold their violin against their cheek. And in that weird gesture, Sora realized that Kairi's mind most have been whirling just as much as his was.

Was it possible that the harm that had come to her boat had really disheartened her? Sora wondered now, as her stony silence began playing his emotions like a fiddle again. If so, he knew he'd never stop berating himself for the sad fact. It had been he, after all, that had hated its similar coloring to Naminé and Castle Oblivion in the first place, so did that mean he'd jinxed it somehow...

As Sora chanced a glance at Kairi, and noted the new, checkered style bangs she'd recently chosen to give herself, he wondered if she was fashioning new things for people to notice about her, so that they might never forget her again.

_I'm sorry, Kairi. For forgetting you and so much more. I've failed you in so many ways, and even some of the simplest. I know that it was here on this beach that you sought to send me a letter, via the water. Even after... even after I hypocritically reprimanded you for forgetting my name, when I was the first person to forget _you_. Back then… I should have given you so much more than the letter "S" to work with. _

_Kairi… you deserve so much more than what I can give you, and I'm afraid I'm never going to be able to make up for all that _you've_ given _me_._

"C'mon, Sora. I used my magic, and we're back on the Island. Now let's get back to your mom, so that she can urge you to be careful again. Doesn't that sound fun?!"

Even without looking at Kairi, as she pulled onto his wrists and ushered the shocked Sora out of the boat they'd been in, he knew that the face she was currently wearing had to be much like his own usual one: happy and childish, but also fake.

And yet… though there was no denying that the redhead was emulating him at the moment, the brunette knew that Kairi's response had to be much worse than his ever was.

She seemed to be suffering from Stepford-Smiler syndrome, at the moment. And to Sora, it seemed that for Kairi there was only ever depression, or denial in store for her.

_God, what have I done to her?_ Sora wondered, as he smiled at Kairi in knowing that was what she needed, and not because he wanted to for once.

And though Sora knew he was being a total hypocrite at the moment… even when he acted dumb, to lessen everyone's expectations of him, he was still well aware of everything happening around him.

Kairi, however, seemed to be locked in her own mind. And whereas nothing else had ever served to really cripple Sora before on his journeys, it turned out that this turn of events could hurt him more than anything else could ever hope to.

Sora remembered that when he and Kairi were kids, she would often times despair over her art not being the best out of the other kids' or something. And though she would always act as though her shortcomings didn't hurt her (as it wasn't in her heart to make people worry for her), Sora had always known.

In fact, it had once gotten so bad once that when the three friends had been in middle school, Sora had wondered if his competitions with Riku—efforts to earn Kairi's attention—were doing more harm for her than good. Surely seeing how he won every now and then (and Riku most of all) had only driven it home to Kairi that she had no trophies or blue ribbons to speak of.

And one day—as Sora had sulked in a way that was very much unlike him, worrying about whether or not he should end his rivalry with Riku for Kairi's sake—he had stumbled upon a birthday card the girl had once given him, and had lovingly noted her eloquent and beautiful writing within. It had been that day that Sora realized that Kairi might have been chasing down the wrong dream all along.

Even just a few years ago, when Kairi had awarded Sora with the cute, kid-like lucky charm she'd fashioned out of thalassa shells, he couldn't help but feel her talents weren't meant for arts and crafts, but rather literature and poetry.

And so, when Kairi's letter had washed up at the shore for him at the Dark Margin, Sora had smiled his own secret grin, because it had seemed that his telling her to remember his name had inspired something new and good within her

Kairi... her words could mend, heal, and even hurt more than anything Sora had ever encountered before. They were her strength and power, and why she'd gained her new spell power at Yen Sid's, but... it seemed as though now she was chasing illusions again.

And that was why Sora was- was so angry at Naminé, because Kairi was trying to be her instead of herself!

And as clarity slammed into Sora like a freight train, he couldn't understand why he hadn't seen any of this sooner. It had been so obvious!

"Y'know, Kai," Sora said as he began walking with the girl back to his mother's house, with their hands intertwined (something that was beginning to feel more and more to Sora at every instance), "I miss you expressing your superiority over me, and bossing me around, and telling me what to do and stuff."

And as Kairi made such a skeptical face, that it looked as though she might have tried to swallow a lemon or something, Sora could only laugh and assure her, as he held his palms forward, "No. I really do!"

And in the end, Kairi's hitting of Sora on the shoulder happened a lot sooner than he thought it would. Or, more accurately, he hadn't thought such a thing would occur at all.

At first, as Sora looked at Kairi with impressed and amused eyes (though Kairi soon looked as though someone had murdered her kitten or something), he almost had to wonder if he was dreaming.

It was like… it was like when they'd been kids, and Kairi would bang on Sora's chest and shoulders when she was afraid, as if urging him to hold her or protect her better. And he still remembered well—and knew he always would—the promise he'd made to her the night she'd first come on the Island...

"_I- I don't want to be here!__" _Kairi had said, after Sora had hastily gotten the mysterious girl out of the water she had landed in, and was quickly running with her to get help.

Looking back on it now, Sora knew that he should have left her there, as she was most definitely injured, and he should have ran through the darkened Island himself to get help. But somehow, as the startling white of her corneas had resembled the pockets of stars pouring over him that night, Sora had begun to think that Kairi _was_ that light he'd always need to be with him, and thus… he'd found he couldn't leave her behind.

_"__I know_- _it's wrong to say__,"_ the redhead continued on, as she held onto Sora's hand so tightly then, that years later—when Sora was first entertaining the idea of girls and their wonders... that—that he'd always imagined his future girlfriend would hold his hand as tightly and trustingly as Kairi had.

_"__But I just fell from the sky! What if other things fall from the sky, like I did?! How will they get knocked back into the sky before they can crush people?! Please- make sure that other people don't get hurt or lost like I am, too__." _Even back then, when Kairi had said this, Sora could almost tell she was possessed by the feelings, needs, and weight of the multiverse on her shoulders.

Then, clutching onto Sora's shirt so much that it hurt him, Kairi leaned into the boy with all her might and cried and cried and cried. And for the moment, the idea of getting her to safety was lost to the both of them.

As Kairi continued to cry—and Sora continued to feel more and more awful for it—he was quick to pull her into his arms, the way his mother had often done for him, and he simply held her for the longest time. And it wasn't… it wasn't unlike the hugs they would have in the future, either, Sora would soon learn

And then citing the promise that Naminé would years later come to manipulate, Sora found a twig that was semi-shaped like a sword, and ushering Kairi to look up at the sky with him—by placing a hand under her chin—he gave her the sweetest smile he could muster, and began leading her away again.

To absolve her fears, he'd exclaimed animatedly, _"That won't happen, Kairi! I'll make sure of it! If something comes this way, I'll bat it back into space where it belongs, you'll see! I'll keep you safe and smiling forever, you can count on that! I'll be your lucky charm, so just stop your tears, okay?"_

"I've been so stupid, so stupid!" Sora muttered as he came back to reality, as though he was seeing things from a third and neutral party (and in a certain way, he supposed he kind of was).

Dropping to his knees on the sand, the way he'd fallen at Riku's feet in The World That Never Was, Sora couldn't believe that he hadn't realized the parallels from that first outing on the Islands, to the one they were having now.

"Kairi, my impromptu lie of taking you to see my mom is over for now. But we should still talk, like about how stupid I've been. I owe you a lot after the whole Naminé thing. I should apologize for forgetting you, and for replacing you, and failing to realize you've been acting like her lately, because… I neglect you too much, Kairi. And for that, and so much else, I'm sorry.

And Sora _was_ sorry, and though he'd pinpointed it for being the Castle Oblivion issue, and his leaving and hurting Kairi all the time, he felt there was a lot more to it, too. Perhaps he was just apologizing for the whole sad situation that was her life and everyone else's?

There certainly was some heavy stuff he needed to worry about, the Keyblade wielder knew, but at the same time… Sora couldn't help but feel his last words had been weightless somehow. He felt light and airy, even. And most of all... free, Sora noted, as he folded his hands in his lap, having opted to sit down on the bottom of the path that would lead them home.

Shrugging her shoulders at that, Kairi opted to take up a position much similar to Sora's own. Amusingly enough, though, her sitting position looked much less balanced than his own did. And if the smirk she was giving to the sky above them meant everything, it seemed that Kairi knew it, too.

The smile that always lightened Kairi's features, and made her look like a work of art, overtook her face, and Sora could almost believe they were a normal couple on a date, laughing together. And was it him, or was Kairi trying to discreetly scoot closer to him?

"Sora, I thank you for apologizing and caring about me. I'm afraid I'm not always good at articulating my feelings. And sometimes… I feel like I am being split between what I want and what the multiverse needs, but… that's not the whole reason I've been off-kilter lately.

"I know you've been worrying about me a lot lately, when it comes to many things, but… it also seems you're cheapening your own value, Sora. Sure I might have taught you to smile, like you said, but it was you who taught me not to cry. Don't you remember? Sora... We're acting like a worrying, old married couple. We need to stop being silly, and… find our youth and selves again!" Kairi exclaimed cheerfully, as she grinned over at Sora, and clapped her hands together for emphasis. "Or else... I'm afraid that even if we do succeed against Xehanort on the morrow, we'll still have lost our lives."

Blue eyes rising so high, that Sora was almost surprised that they didn't reach up over his eyebrows, and cause wrinkles in their wake, Sora couldn't help but feel that... Kairi was right. Absolutely right.

Really, he supposed he _should_ have been thinking about himself more, after nearly having become a Xehanort.

But even so, Sora knew that he'd be damned, before he started neglecting Kairi's feelings and needs again. She was a massive target of Xehanort's now, and thus he needed to protect her from so much… even if Kairi _was_ now telling him to worry about himself.

But seeing as how Kairi was also guilty of being too selfless and self-sacrificing, Sora supposed that he could've gone into a battle of hypocrisy with her, but… he just didn't want to.

Because in complete truth, there was nothing Sora could ever imagine wanting more before his eventual end, than to pull Kairi into his arms and hold her the way he was now, that he also had so long ago.

And in a way, it seemed like it had also been long ago, that Sora had first gotten the idea of sharing a paopu with Kairi.

And though they'd certainly lost some of the years they could have had together, with or without the paopu (and they still stood to lose even more still), Sora knew what really mattered was the moment they were in together _now_. Whatever lied beyond the next morning… they would face it together, and hand in hand, with the rest of their friends.

_We were right to make promises not to change_, Sora concluded, as he found himself accidentally disheveling one of the segments of Kairi's new bangs, and somehow succeeded in making it look like how it once had, _But also foolish. Change can be good, I know now; change is needed for every person and relationship to grow. If we'd never changed, I wouldn't be here... here kissing Kairi like this now._

And as Sora removed his fingers from Kairi's forehead, to put his own in its place, and their lips drifted closer and closer, he remembered one time when Kairi had seen a play with him, where two blonds had done the exact same motion.

She'd said then that it resembled Roxas and Naminé, and as those two Nobodies had always liked each other, that maybe she and Sora should have lent them control—or let them appear in their forms—so they could be together the way they'd always wanted to.

And now that Sora was meeting Kairi in the way _he'd_ always wanted to—and she tasted like healing rain—and all their earlier issues, fears, and pains were shot out the window, he couldn't understand why they themselves had taken so long to get this far.

Sora also thought it odd that even with himself feeling discord towards Naminé lately, because of his own shortcomings with Kairi, that it was through her that he and Kairi would come together this way.

Then again, he probably should have always known, hadn't he? They were all connected, and it was only through connections that one could truly love.

When Kairi pulled away from Sora with a goofy smile on her face, and kept her hand on his cheek, Sora was shocked to fin himself singing words he'd once heard from her. Words he'd helped bring into fruition, by telling Kairi to pour out her thoughts and emotions somewhere- "Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all. Nothing's like before... One sky, one destiny."

As tears cascaded down Kairi's eyes—like the time he'd looked into her heart after closing Kingdom Hearts, and he saw her cry at their mural—the girl came to a certain idea that Sora had had long ago. "My words! The poetry I wrote about your adventure- Sora, you turned it into a song! And though you told me to write… you never told me to take it this far. It seems- it seems that the sky and sea found a way to touch, combine, and create together, after all.

"After all, what is the whistle in the air, if not a song, I ask you?"

At that, Sora found he could only let a smile overtake his features, and have his own tear fall down to mingle with Kairi's (something they were both quick to laugh at), before putting his head atop Kairi's, and staring at the vast, endless sky above them, alongside the girl in his arms.

It was definitely full of possibilities and wonder for the two to behold together now, they both knew. And as a paopu fruit seemed to roll down the hill towards them, it seemed to hint they would survive the coming War. And they'd have many years of triumph and love together in the future.

**Author's Note: Sorry for any mistakes in here (as I, sadly, don't have time to look over this again), and the undoubtedly confusing nature of this story. It had a few twist and turns that you might not get unless you read this again, so I'll try to explain it here.**

**Basically? This takes place the night before the Keyblade War, and as Kairi's acting strange (and her eyes flash green at certain points), Sora's starting to fear she's turning into a Xehanort vessel or something. **

**Later, though, Sora begins thinking she's trying to be like Naminé (since Naminé has green-ish, or at least lighter, blue eyes), which is why he gets mad at her. **

**It turns out, however, that Kairi's worried about Sora's worrying over her (LOL. those cuties), and that's why she's acting (and even looking) off. (And although she wasn't trying to act like Naminé, she was still demonstrating some of her Other's timid tendencies, which is why her eyes sometimes look green). **

**In the end, Sora and Kairi come to an understanding with each other. So, yeah. That's the story, and it has a happy ending for everyone involved. LOL.**

**The main point of this story was for Sora and Kairi to talk about the Castle Oblivion stuff that they needed to, and to learn that the sky and sea CAN find a way to touch and coincide. Yep.**

**And you know… it sort of amuses me how much this story is like the RiKai story I posted yesterday, my "Apples to Apples" fic, and my "Healing and Binding Magic" fanfiction. I just love when my stories connect! LOL.**

**Also, in case anyone is wondering: in my headcanon (to have Kairi and Naminé be similar, yet also different), I have Nami be an artist, and Kairi be a writer. I think it makes sense story wise (as Nami IS an artist, and Kairi writes that poetic letter to Sora and stuff), so if you ever see something like that happen in one of my stories (like you do here), that's why it occurs (that, and the fact I like to believe that Kairi is the narrator for the KH series). And I think it worked really well here, too. And I hope you guys feel the same way:)**

**I also have an artistic thing with Xion in my headcanon, btw, but that's neither her nor there, so I'm not going to get into that.**

**And as many of you probably guessed, I tried to do my own version of how Sora and Kairi met here, based off of the meteor story we learned in CoM. Personally, I believed that actually happened with Sora and Kairi (as Naminé pretty much made Sora think she WAS Kairi, and just "rearranged the links"), but on the night she first came to the Island, as she came during a meteor shower. This just seemed like something I had to do, via the subject matter here, you know? I hope you all liked it…**

…**Wow. I just realized Kairi really doesn't talk a lot in this story, but I guess that just furthers the mystery, and why Sora's worried about her. I hope that's not something anyone's bothered by, however.**

**Anyway, I could get into a cool discussion with you guys about how KHInsider has a theory on the eye colors in the KH series, but I'll save you from that. This AN is long enough as is. LOL. So review, please. And if you want to know about the eye color theory, just ask me and I'll fill you in;)**

**Peace.**

**-Shanna**

**P.S. It feels GREAT to be writing SoKai again. I'd missed doing this, and it's been far too long since I have…**


End file.
